Save the Best for Last
by Shinri Ayase
Summary: Shounen Ai, SenKosh. Sometimes, it's worth it to believe...


Disclaimers: I own nothing, except for a particular variation of the Funky Chicken.  
  
A/N: Dedicated to the SenKosh MLers, particularly Hanabi Reeza and Kuroi-chan. I know a songfic is not very imaginative, but I felt that this song best expresses the special bond between these two. Please bear with me...  
  
Song performed by Vanessa Williams  
  
_Lyrics_  
  
SAVE THE BEST FOR LAST  
  
_Sometimes the snow comes down in june  
Sometimes the sun goes 'round the moon_  
  
I never believed in miracles. Those things just aren't possible. There's just no logic in their existence. Bleeding statues, flying pigs...they're all just anomalies of physics.  
And along came Sendo Akira, he who makes my breath hitch, my heart ache with exertion, and my head spin.  
Me, in love? My sister teases me about it, saying it's a miracle.  
I say this is a fluke. There are no such things.  
Still, sometimes...  
  
_I see the passion in your eyes  
Sometimes it's all a big surprise_  
  
There's this certain way that he looks at me. It always gives me this...jolt,or something. Sometimes we'd be sitting comfortably in his living room, doing homework (I end up doing his homework for him, the jerk - even when he's actually smarter than me!) or watching tv. I'd look up to ask him a question, and I'd just freeze - because I'd catch him studying my face with this weird happy expression. Once, I asked him about it. You know what his answer was?  
"I dunno. I guess I think you have an interesting face, y'know? I discover something new about it every second."  
Dolt.  
I hate smartass idiots.  
But this one...  
  
_'cause there was a time when all I did was wish  
You'd tell me this was love  
_  
Okay, so maybe I really did fall for him. Not so easily, mind you. But I did. And every time he'd look at me that way, I'd wish he'd say something corny like "You know, you have a really adorable nose", or "I can't help myself; you're just so beautiful..."  
Ugh. I want to puke at the drabble my mind keeps coming up with. But I guess what I was waiting for was this line: "I love you. This is what it's like."  
And then my mind would descend to the deepest recesses of gutterhood, taking me to a world where Akira closes the distance between us and we...  
coughcough Enough of this. You probably know what I mean, anyway.  
Gahd. I swear, ever since I met the guy, cheese and corn have been pouring out of my ears. I kept dreaming up all these cliche romance scenarios which end up with us getting married and riding off into the sunset.  
Someone give me a barf bag. Please.  
Eventually, I decided I couldn't live like that anymore.  
  
_It's not the way I hoped or how I planned  
But somehow it's enough  
_  
So came up with this brilliant plan. I would lure him using tickets to an inter-high game (acquired from my sister, who could get whatever she wants - I'd rather not get into the details) and convince him to spend an entire day with me. Just the two of us. And I'd drag him to the coolest places, treat him to the best food and finally take him to a private, romantic, place where I could spill my guts, confess my love, and generally make a fool of myself.  
I guess it's pretty obvious by now that by that point, I no longer cared about my reputation. I just wanted to let this damned thing out, and I wanted him to be the first to know. I couldn't sit by and fantasize all the time. After all, I'm supposed to be the more aggressive one, hothead that I am.  
Naturally, things went wrong. For one thing, the game was cancelled. And then we ran into Rukawa and he and Akira (as dictated by the natural physical laws) ended up playing basketball up until the early evening. The jerks made me referee, as usual. Story of my life.  
By the time they finished playing (as to be expected, Akira won - take that, Rukawa!), all the places I planned to take Akira to were closed. I was (predictably) annoyed. No, I was more than annoyed. I was pissed.  
So I stayed quiet on the train ride back home, just watching the bloody boring scenery pass me by. And then...  
The train went through a clearing, and the summer sky was displayed to us in all its magnificence. The stars were all out, the moon was full, not a cloud marred the sky...  
It was perfect. 'It's now or never,' thought. I opened my mouth to tell him...  
"I love you, Kosh."  
And the bastard beat me to it. Of course, I slugged him, sending him sprawling on the floor of the train. It's a good thing we were the only passengers.  
I kissed him after that. I don't care if that confused him, I just needed to get everything out.  
For the first time, I felt content.  
I think on that day, I began to believe that miracles exist - in another plane of existence only mildly sensed by the human being, of course. But it exists.  
No one can take that moment away from me.  
Especially when he laughed and kissed me back.  
  
_And now we're standing face to face  
Isn't this world a crazy place  
Just when I thought our chance had passed  
You go and save the best for last  
_  
Interestingly enough, when I made the decision to tell him how I felt, I didn't actually think I'd have a rat's chance with him. The fact that he told me he loved me (beat me to my confession, why don't you?!) came as a surprise. A pleasant surprise.  
Truth be told, I'm still in shock. Despite the fifth monthsary we're currently celebrating. I didn't believe I still had a chance with him within the five seconds prior to his confession.  
After all, it was Himeki-neesan's (and let's face it, my older sister's the expert in all matters pertaining to relationships) "talks" that forced me to figure myself out. By the time I admitted to myself what I really felt, we had been best friends for over a year - far too long in oneesan's book. And I quote: "If you've been friends for over a year, then forget about having anything romantic between the both you. I mean, things become messy if you try to turn one thing into something else. Sure, sometimes it happens, and sometimes those 'sometimes' work. But that's kinda rare without losing the relationship you'd gotten used to. ESPECIALLY if the person in question was your best friend."  
I don't usually listen to her crap, but that tirade got my attention. It made perfect sense.  
That's why I'm staring at him in disbelief right now.  
Like an idiot groping for something to say.  
While he's holding out that weird Ernie puppet holding a basketball.  
Smiling.  
I guess only idiots date idiots.  
God, I love him. I can't believe he's actually mine.  
He's the best thing that ever happened to me. It's sad, really, but I don't really care anymore.  
  
_All of the nights you came to me  
When some silly girl had set you free  
You wondered how you'd make it through  
I wondered what was wrong with you  
'cause how could you give your love to someone else  
And share your dreams with me  
Sometimes the very thing you're looking for  
Is the one thing you can't see  
_  
And to think...he used to date GIRLS. I'd have to thank them for dumping him,though I still want to kill them.  
I remember back in junior high. When we were both going through our akward phase (actually, I have this sneaking suspicion that I'm STILL going through my akward phase) and flailing around in an attempt to affirm ourselves of our sanity. I turned to books, not even bothering with the looks and popularity thing that everyone's going on about.  
He turned to girls. Dating. It wasn't hard for him; even at that stage he was very charming. And cute. Really cute. It didn't take him long to actually graduate to older girls.  
And they would always, always, dump him. All of them. Our age or older. They keep saying something about him being strange.  
I remember this one particular incident when he showed up at our house around four a.m., drunk as hell and crying.  
That was the night he decided I was his best friend, as he spilled his guts (and the rest of the contents of his stomach) all over my pink bunny slippers.  
Which I still keep.  
In my closet.  
In the middle of my Akira shrine. But that's another story coughcough.  
Anyway, I just couldn't believe those girls. How could they play him like that?  
And what the fuck's wrong with him? Why does he insist on dating girls who obviously won't and can't understand him?  
He's the guy with the 141 IQ, and he couldn't seem to figure out that dating girls who have no idea whatsoever of what he's really about is a BAD IDEA. They don't last. They would never understand him.  
The way I do.  
The way I always would.  
So he told me about Kimiko and Tomomi and Seira and Mimichi and Shiori and the rest of the girls he had dated up until that point. We skipped class and basketball practice and just fished the entire day. And had hyperacidity from too much lemon-sucking.  
It was the best day of of our lives. I guess that should have been our moment.  
But then again, I had been his newly-declared best friend, and I was in denial back then. He probably couldn't have seen this coming, and I thought it was out of the question.  
In the meantime, I took care of him.  
  
_And now we're standing face to face  
Isn't this world a crazy place  
Just when I thought our chance had passed  
You go and save the best for last_  
  
But the sunset of the day should have been THAT moment. As we stood up at dusk, packing up our fishing gear, we should have given in.  
Or maybe we shouldn't have. Maybe the actual moment when he said he loves me was the real moment. Maybe we wouldn't be happy then as we are now.  
Who knows?  
He's still standing there, holding that silly puppet and wearing THAT expression on his face. As if he's seeing something new and different and infinitely exciting about my face. Even when I personally think that my face is so unremarkable that people fall asleep with a mere glance.  
Then he grins at me sheepishly, shyly hold out that horrifically cute toy and give a lame-ass excuse about how he had planned things differently and so on.  
With actions.  
Only he would make excuses by playing a messed up version of charades.  
I must have smiled because he stopped and looked surprised for a moment before shutting up and smiling.  
I just squeeze his hand and call him a baka.  
I couldn't let go, even if I tried.  
Not when I finally realized how close I had been to giving him up.  
Not when I figured out how much this means to both of us.  
When the best possible thing happens to you, you'd want it to last for the rest of your life.  
  
_Sometimes the very thing you're looking for  
Is the one thing you can't see_  
  
I guess I've always wanted to be understood, just as he was manuevering in the darkness for someone who could decipher him. Somewhere along the way we bumped into each other and started to look together.  
I remember that my sister used to say that the closer you are to something, the more difficult it is to really see it. I guess we never actually saw each other then. And then we made the smart move of stepping back from each other.  
And there I was.  
And there he was.  
  
_Sometimes the snow comes down in june  
Sometimes the sun goes 'round the moon  
Just when I thought our chance had passed  
You go and save the best for last  
_  
So yeah, I guess miracles grace us once or twice. Coincidences might come once too often and lead us to suspect that someone up there just might be one sick fuck. Or several sick fucks, depending on your choice of faith.  
So yeah, sometimes things turn around and do a full 180 while you aren't looking. You'd be surprised at how often that happens to me, especially with Akira.  
I thought it was nothing.  
And he proved me wrong.  
We're stargazing tonight, and are thankful for the lack of clouds. As I lie back on the tacky thing he insists on calling a blanket, clutching the basketball-gripping muppet on one hand and stroking his with the other, I look to the stars.  
I make a wish that had already come true, as far as I'm concerened, but I make it out of sheer habit.  
I wish...we were everything. Forever. Like the sky.  
He turns to look at me. I look back and and I ask him what it's about. He smiles sheepishly again.  
"I'll get you a Bert puppet holding a hoop next month."  
Baka.  
I guess I'll never stop falling.   
Yet another anomaly of physics.  
  
_You went and saved the best for last_  
  
THE END


End file.
